No Name
by Moniter
Summary: How a child born without a name became a man who didn't need one.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first story in a while. Life happens, you know. hopefully I'll be able to get back to writing as much as I enjoy. This is just to get me started.

This story starts out pretty unrelated to Half-Life, but it will make sense in later chapters. I promise.

I don't own Half-Life or any related characters.

Chpt 1: First Born

July 12, 1924

Skokie, Illinois

Mercy General Hospital

The nurse stood outside the delivery room, waiting for the doctor to let her in. She had seen the young woman come in, panicking and with contractions a minute apart. She claimed that she had no money, and that the father was "not around". Whether that meant that he was simply unavailable or, more likely, she couldn't find him, the nurse could not say.

The nurse watched as the newborn was carried to the nursery. She gathered up the papers and headed into the room to speak to this lonely young lady.

"Ms. Maddox?" the nurse asked

"...yes?"

"Hello, my name is Susan, I'm the head nurse. I just have a few matters that needed to be cleared up. I need to ask a few standard questions and fill in some paperwork. Your full name is Francine Maddox, correct?"

"Yes."

"And the father's name?"

"He... I didn't..."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't-"

"I don't know his name." Francine snapped at the nurse.

Susan sighed and sat down next to Francine "Ms. Maddox, I'm not here to judge, and I don't want to make this any more difficult. There are just a few things I need to know, just to make sure your son gets started on the right track. That's what we all want, right?"

Francine just sneered and avoided Susan's gaze.

"Okay, we don't have to talk. All I need to know right now in his name. Have you thought of one yet?"

"Just leave me alone."

(sigh) "Ms Maddox-"

"I said leave me alone!"

With that, Francine rolled over and refused to say another word. Seeing that she was getting nowhere, Susan left.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

As she typed in the sparse information on the birth certificate, another nurse spoke to her "Hey, I heard you had a hard time with that girl who came in earlier."

"Yeah, she seemed pretty steamed."

"You think she'll be okay"

"She looks like she can take care of herself, but it's the son I'm worried about."

"You don't think she can handle a kid?"

"I don't think she even wants him around, sad to say. She can't remember the father, she won't listen to any medical advise, she won't even give the poor boy a name."

"Well, what can you do?"

"Just fill in the blanks, I suppose. And hope for the best."

As she said this, Susan typed on the line reserved for the newborn's name:

_Maddox, (no name)_


	2. Boys' Club

Here's chapter 2. It's going to start looking more like Half-Life, or at least look familiar. I hope so anyway.

I don't own Half-Life or any related characters.

Chpt 2: Boys' Club

September 3, 1939

New York City, New York

"Extra, Extra! Germany Invades Poland! England and France Declare War! Read all about it!"

The throngs of New Yorkers gathered around the paper boy, clamoring for the latest news from the old country. The old rivalries had resurfaced, and everyone's worst fear, another Great War, was looming on the horizon.

The group of boys made their way home from school, excited about news. Now they would be able to fight and win. They would tell the stories that enthralled their children and grandchildren. Now, they would be the heroes.

They were a small bunch, Gregory Petros, they called him Boozer because his family lived above a bar;

Patrick Donaghy, whose dad owned the bar where Boozer's family lived;

Rudy Sciuto, his father was a doctor and his mother was a nurse, so his nickname was Doc;

And Charlie Maddox. Charlie wasn't his real name, it's just what his mother called him. His real name, the name on his birth certificate, was No Name Maddox, so everyone called him No Name.

No Name was poor. Everyone had lost money during the depression, and people were just now getting back on their feet, but he had always been worse off than everyone. And when everyone else got richer, he and his mom just lost more and more money.

It didn't help that his mom never married. She would just bring over another "uncle" who would smack her and No Name around and drink up the little money they had before just wandering off or getting arrested or shot. In fact, since one of his "uncles" was named Charlie, his mom named him Charlie after him, so he _really_ hated being called Charlie.

As they made their way through the neighborhood they began to brag and b.s. about the coming war.

"When I get older, I'm gonna go over there and kill a hundred Krauts. I'll get in one of them tanks they're building and _dat-at-at-at-at_ shoot 'em all to hell," said Boozer, ("hell" being the dirtiest word they were saying at that age)

"Yeah, well I'm gonna find that old Hitler and kick his teeth so far in he'll be chewin his toenails." Patrick shot back.

"What I wanna know," said No Name "is why they even listen to Hitler. Every time I see him at the theater he's always yellin and hollerin like he's having some kind of fit."

Doc replied "Maybe he makes more sense in German."

"Nah," said Boozer "they're all daffy over there. They lost so bad last time they all went crazy."

"Yeah, he's nuts, too. He's the king of Germany and he can't even get a decent haircut."

The boys laughed and talked some more, before breaking up and heading home. No Name headed into his apartment building, when he heard a voice from down the hall. "Norman!"

He stopped and turned around. He knew right away who had called out, "Hello Mr. Mauser."

Ed Mauser was the landlord for No Name's building. He was old, and didn't speak English very well, and he was the only person who called No Name "Norman".

"Come here son. We have a talk."

No Name, thinking it had something to do with his mother missing the rent payment (again) tried to think of a good excuse as he went into Mr Mauser's office.

"Norman, you know how to read?"

"Yes, sir."

"You read the paper?"

"Not today, sir."

"You hear about what happened?"

"About Poland?"

"Yeah,"

"Yes, sir."

Mr Mauser nodded to himself, "There gonna be another war, you know that?"

"Yes, sir."

"They gonna make you fight. You a smart kid, you know that? Smarter than I don't know what. I see the grades you bring home. And they gonna send smart kid like you off to get shot at and blown up, because some maniac wanted Poland."

No Name shuffled his feet, "I won't get blown up, sir."

"No, cause you smart. When they make you go off to fight, you don't volunteer for any _verdammt_ front line infantry. You get the smart job and sneak in and spy on them."

"Spy on them?"

"Yeah. Let me tell you a story. The last time this happened, in the War, there was some British soldiers. They took a village, took it over, and they were using it as a base to ship supplies, food, medicine, you know. The Kaiser's soldiers, they wanted to take that village back, and Allies would have lost the entire supply route.

So the Kaiser's soldiers moved their tanks in, in the night. They stood around, and let nobody near the tanks, except the mechanics. Early the next morning, the British soldiers found them, and attacked. When they ran to their tanks, the tanks didn't work. One of the mechanics, a spy, broke all the tanks and sneak away and told the British where they were hiding."

Mr Mauser pointed to himself "I was that mechanic. That day, I saved the British, the supply line and the whole war. And why? Because I was smart! I didn't go in there, shooting and getting shot. I used my brains. That's how you win a war."

Mr Mauser put his hands on No Name's shoulders "When you fight a strong enemy, you don't out fight them, you out think them. You go where they don't think you can go, and you do what they don't think you can do," he said

"_The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world._ Remember that, son. Remember that, and you do just fine. Now run upstairs, and tell your momma to find that rent money. I don't want no more excuses."

No Name turned around and went upstairs. He thought about what Mr Mauser had said. 'It does make sense,' he thought, 'if you don't want to get shot, you just have to fool the other guy into thinking you're on his side. It can't be too hard to fool Hitler, right?

'I mean, he can't even get a decent haircut.'


End file.
